To the Mom dealing with anxiety,
I know there are many days you may feel alone, and hopeless but that doesn’t mean you are. I want to share with you an encounter I had with our loving Father when I too felt alone, hopeless, and like giving up. I know what our God so graciously revealed to me was not intended for just me. As you read this, I pray he meets you right where you are and perfects everything concerning you with his unfailing love.
Late one Wednesday night I was lying in bed trying to catch my breath after an overwhelming few days. My husband had just returned from a three-day training for work, and despite help from family, I still felt like I was barely getting by. While lying there, I tried to bring myself to concoct a plan to accomplish my goals for the rest of the week. However, instead, I found myself swarmed with reasons why accomplishing those goals were seemingly impossible.
A loud voice in my head kept telling me there was no way possible that I could manage caring for my four children while keeping up with housework, being a wife, and establishing my blog. The overwhelming anxiety made me want to cry in distress. I began feeling sorry for myself. I wanted to explain to my husband in my frustration that my job as a mother and wife was too hard already, how could I possibly accomplish the dreams God set out for me also.
It was in that moment of hopelessness that I told myself “I am not enough,” and God responded, “you are right you aren’t enough”. At the sound of God’s still and soft voice, every negative and lying voice was silenced. The peace that surpasses all understanding reminded me in my distress, that although I am not enough, God is more than enough. He was telling me to stop trying to figure it all out, stop trying to do it all, stop trying to be everything you think people expect you to be and trust me.
I had gotten so wrapped up in the “DO” part that I forgot the “WHO” that enables me to do anything. In that moment, I accepted that everything on my to-do list might not get done, and my days might not have cookie-cutter routines. However, everything that God has set out for me to do in that day will most certainly get done! God’s gentle voice reminded me that it isn’t about my long to-do list, it is about what he has called me to do.
You are unique, and your blessings are unique therefore the is no cookie-cutter recipe to follow. Embrace your uniqueness so that you are able to discern what God is calling you to do. The world will try to force us to conform our lives to benefit its agenda, but God has greater plans for us. Romans 12:12 tells us, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will”.
I don’t know what has you anxious today, but God promises in Philippians 4:6-7 that if we be not anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present our requests to God. The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. Give whatever is troubling you to God, and know he never intended for you to go through this life alone. Jesus went to the cross and defeated every power of evil so that he could send us the Holy Spirit as our helper. It is not by our might nor by our power but by the spirit of the Living God.
Mrs.Egenti 